+5 Intellect

I've decided to start a separate gaming blog to save those non-gamers who may view my personal blog from my past times. It's a double whammy, because I no longer feel I have to hold back regarding games now that these two worlds are separated. In the nerdiest spirit I can muster I present +5 Intellect.

Mass Effect 3's Ending - A Different Interpretation

Like many, I played through the Mass Effect series, and was beyond pumped for the third installment of the series. And like many, upon play through completion, I thought the game was excellent until the very end. And, what a bitter end it was. I could understand what all the rage was about. Plot holes were aplenty, and you were left with... well, very little, considering the massive scope of the series.

Well, I was recently scouring the internet for something, anything, that would justify the ending given to us, the sad disappointment to such a work of art. And, well, I found that justification. And it is beyond anything I could have asked for.

Fair warning: Massive spoilers ahead.

The Definitive Interpretation:

I was introduced to what is being referred to as the "Shepherd's Indoctrination" interpretation. The video below is all you really need as proof, though much more can be found with a simple Google search.

A Summary:

From the moment you step onto the Citadel at the end through the Deus Ex Machina moment that is inexplicable, everything is a dream. Shepherd is knocked unconscious by Harbinger while running at the beam, and which in a dream state is going through one final fight against Reaper Indoctrination. The three choices you're presented with at the end of the cut scene and dialogue aren't deciding the fate galaxy, or even the Reapers. They're deciding the fate of Shepherd's mind.

As you'll see, there are hints the entire game. Shepherd is slowly succumbing to Indoctrination. He's had as much or more contact with the Reapers as anyone else in the galaxy. It makes sense.

And if you choose wisely, and play through the third game wisely, you're given an image of Shepherd taking a breath at the end of the other cut scenes. He's buried amidst a significant amount of rubble. How can this be reconciled with the fiery explosions of the Citadel? Easy. As mentioned before, he was never on the citadel. He was unconscious in London. The true ending of the game has yet to be seen.

I'll leave the rest to the video. It very clearly and concisely makes the arguments for this interpretation. To the point that I don't even consider it a theory at this point. This is the true interpretation in my mind. Bioware tricked us. They tricked all of us. We were indoctrinated by the game. And this is one of the most epic and genius endings to a series I can imagine.

Gamers succeed where scientists fail

Gamers have solved the structure of a retrovirus enzyme whose configuration had stumped scientists for more than a decade. The gamers achieved their discovery by playing Foldit, an online game that allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

After scientists repeatedly failed to piece together the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from an AIDS-like virus, they called in the Foldit players. The scientists challenged the gamers to produce an accurate model of the enzyme. They did it in only three weeks.

Source Article

Scientists using a widely distributed game as a think tank for solving real life problems? Stargate Universe called it.

Interestingly, if you too would like to fold proteins for science, foldit beta is available here. Going to check it out myself when I have a chance. While I doubt it'll be the next Call of Duty installment, I'm glad someone is actually putting this idea into practice. Now if they'd only take it that one final step and capitalize on the most detail oriented and obsessive gamers there are, MMO players...

Unlimited Detail Real-Time Rendering Technology Preview 2011

Kind of makes me salivate.

Possibly Hinting?

Creative Assembly, responsible for the Total War series of games (of which I'm a fan and perhaps even an afficianado) recently started up a Twitter feed, in which they announced that the upcoming total war title will be revealed at E3 in June. They also stated that they would be getting away from gunpowder for awhile, which cancels out quite a few time periods.

Then the little picture below appeared on their Twitter. It may be absolutely nothing. But, it may be a hint of things to come. Spartan style helmet - think they're suggesting something?

g at www.yfrog.com">

Visit CAGames's Yfrog profile

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Fan Made Class Vids for Lotro

Saw this while browsing the official forums. I have to say, this fan made videos are excellent. I hope Turbine's marketing department takes a cue here; if the lotro trailers for advertising were more like this, I think the game would be much more widely known and played. Granted, I've never been too impressed with Turbine's marketing department. But still, these vids are great.

The Lord of the Rings - Online "Loremaster Trailer" from EveNArtworkS on Vimeo.

Lord of the Rings - Online "I am warden" from EveNArtworkS on Vimeo.

Enedwaith!

Yes, I've been on a bit of a spree lately. Oh well. It's summer, and I have little to do.

I found this little nugget on the lotro forums. Most of it isn't anything new or amazing. What is worthwhile is that the interviewee is the Turbine Director of Communications, and that at just about 0:56 he states, flat out, that the next land update will be the addition of the Enedwaith on the road to Isengard, and the the rest of Rohan.

This is pretty substantial for fans of the games. We've all been expecting the game to approach Rohan going South through Lothlorien, but that appears to be not the case. Especially when you consider this little nugget from a Finnish gaming magazine.

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Well, unless you read Finnish, I don't expect you to get much out of that. (I didn't either.) But some handy bilingual people from the interwebs say that the very last sentence of the interview with Steefel confirmed that the next expansion would start with the letter 'E'. Now, it's not a full blown expansion, but since when has Steefel ever understood what he was talking about?

Rivendell

One of the Reason I still love Lotro after two and a half years of gaming. The graphics are still beautiful and stunning. This is what you are first greeted with upon entering the valley of Rivndell: A gorgeous view of the Last Homely House where Elrond resides.

Say what you will about it, if nothing else Lotro is the most beautiful MMO on the market. A great virtual world to spend time in, if I do say so myself.

I threw in a picture of Ost Guruth, a ruined fortress now inhabited by the Eglain, for good measure. :)

Lotro: Three Year Anniversary and Feelings in Regard

It would be only fitting that on this, more or less the three year anniversary of the launch of Lord of the Rings: Online, I spend some time discussing one of my favorite past times.

I haven't played lotro since its launch, but it's been darn close. I started sometime in September 2007 (as frightening as it is to think about), during the beginning of my college career. I've never been a hardcore player, raider, or anything of the like, but I've been around, and I've been through the games ups and downs, and intend to be around for awhile longer.

That said, I've had some great times in this game. It was my first MMO, and will likely be the longest I'll every play any MMO. Though part of it is surely nostalgia, I remember very fondly my first venture out of Combe with my Captain of Middle Earth, trying to find my arse with both hands and a flash light, having absolutely no idea how any of the game mechanics worked.

But it happened, ever so slowly. In large part thanks to the efforts of my kinship (guild) the Children of Illuvatar. Though it's somewhat depressing now, realizing that I've been in the kinship longer than most of my kin mates have been playing the game, I can say for a fact my kin made me believe two things I never thought I'd be convinced of: There is a such thing as online community and friendship, and because of this (among other things) pay to play is perfectly viable. Not only have I met friends in game, but I've met fraternity brothers hundreds of miles away that I never would have known otherwise. No regrets.

Even as I look back on the game, look at where it is now, and where it may or may not be going, two thoughts spring to mind:

1) I'll be playing it till the servers shut down, unless Turbine severely screws things up. And,
2) That said, there is a certain trend in the game I'm not happy with: The Gear Grind

I'll preface this with a short story. Earlier this year, being somewhat disillusioned with this game, I gave WoW a shot. My roommates play it as avidly as I play lotro, and I figured, why not? Ten millions subscribers give or take have to be right about something.

And after playing up to around level 20, I will say, I enjoyed it. It was fun. Interesting world, neat game mechanics. I can definitely see why people like it. But the one thing that stopped me from progressing any further was watching my roommates. Their end game is essentially summed up as grinding instances endlessly to get better gear so that they can try more difficult instances to get better gear, then run raids to get the best gear. Then, when you're either completely tweaked out, satisfied with good enough, or burned out, you turn around and start an alt or take a break from the game.

It's this linear gear centricity that had me turned off of the Mines of Moria expansion for lotro. Whatever happened to comparable incomparables? I remember a game where there were multiple paths to more or less the same goal. This is no longer the case. Crafting or any other avenue of progression has definitely become the red headed step child to instances and raiding. Combine this with Siege of Mirkwood's quizzical lateral gear 'progression' and I don't even know what they're going for at Turbine anymore.

I also despise radiance. I feel like Turbine is trying to beat blizzard at their own game. It's foolish. Back in the SoA days, I would randomly get invites to run six and twelve mans with people. Gear was really a secondary concern next to skill of the player. Those days, however are gone with radiance gating. I have never, since MoM, had a single random invite to an instance or raid asking for a captain. Radiance has, whether they wish to admit it or not, been a rather divisive wedge within the community and, I think, a failed experiment that they need to wash their hands of and move on. However, I'm not holding out hope.

However, for those subscribers, this poll recently shed some very revealing light on the state of things. Though the naysayers had wildly different reasons for voting no, the displeasure could be felt in the thread. Here's hoping that Turbine listens.

I'm not going to jump ship. Lotro is still one of the best games I've ever played. Plus, I'm a lifer. I'll be sticking around. I think radiance stinks. Legendary Items are anything but. I really think Turbine needs to get back to the roots of what made SoA great: community, creativity, story, envelopment, and just generally Middle Earth. Don't try to beat WoW at being WoW! It can't be done! We'll see what the fall brings in terms of announcements and new expansions.